The Mailmare and the Farmer

"Why the hell do you even come to school Derpy, nopony wants you there in the first place!"  Two large stallions shoved the small pegasus down into the mud, the water from the rain seeping into her thin raincoat, getting pushed around wasn't new to her, but it still hurt.

She kept a stiff upper lip as the two stallions continued to jeer at her, they weren't far from the schoolyard, but still far enough for them to pick on the mare without any trouble.  She had dealt with stallions such as these for as long as she could remember, she would simply play this out like all of the other times that they had bullied her, just let it run it's course and then get up from the dust, brush it off, and go to class.

She could tell that they were beginning to lose interest because she wasn't showing any emotional reaction, they spat a few taunts at her and then rushed off.  A storm had set in earlier that morning, it was strong, the wind pushed against the small mare's frame, threatening to knock her over, the rain pounded against her coat, which was already soaked to the core.  As soon as she knew that they were out of sight and earshot she broke down into tears, just as she always did when nopony was around, the bullying caused extreme amounts of stress for the young filly.

Why does nopony like me?  Are my eyes really that freakish?  She looked down into a puddle close by, her walleyes looking back at her, there wasn't a smile on the pony she saw, only sadness, her tears fell with the rain, she sat down in the mud feeling helpless, nopony came to comfort her, few only cast strange looks at her.

After a few minutes she picked herself up from the mud and slowly trotted towards the schoolhouse, she was already an hour late, but at that point it didn't matter to her.  As she walked into the classroom their teacher, Ms. Oak looked at her with concern.

"Where have you been little filly?  You are extremely late."

The mare didn't look at her teacher for fear of crying again, she just slowly walked to the back of the classroom where she always sat, soaked to the bone, and waited for the teacher to continue her lesson.  She could hear many of the foals chuckling and giggling, she tried to block them out the best she could but couldn't keep all of it away, she kept her eyes pointed at her desk for the entire day, not listening to a word the teacher had to say, thankfully Ms. Oak didn't call on her.

When the bell rang for the ponies to go home Ms. Oak stopped Ditzy Doo.  "Ditzy, would you stay after class for a moment?"  This triggered some of the mares and colts that were left in the classroom to snicker, they were quickly put out from a glare from Ms. Oak though.

After they had all left Ms. Oak took off her glasses and looked at the distraught filly, Ditzy's eyes were still red from the ordeal that morning.  "Ditzy, you know you can tell me anything right?  You wouldn't keep anything such as bullying away from my ears would you?"

The small, defeated pegasus slowly shook her head.  "No Ms. Oak, I wouldn't."

The teacher nodded.  "You know we have a new student coming in tomorrow."

Great, just another pony to laugh at me.

Seeming to have read her mind Ms. Oak explained the new student.  "He is different just like you, unlike all of the ponies in this classroom he grew up on a farm, his father and mother wanted him to come to school for a proper education, he doesn't know any of the ponies here, you two could become friends."

Ditzy looked up at her teacher, hope flickering in her eyes.  "Do you really think so Ms. Oak?"

Her teacher nodded.  "I would like you to show him around when he gets here tomorrow, he is a rather large colt so you shouldn't have a problem with other ponies trying to bother you, he is rather quiet so don't expect him to talk too much alright Ditzy?"

Ditzy beamed at her teacher, which was returned.  "Thank you Ms. Oak!"  The filly quickly ran out of the classroom, she was excited to get home.

The day seemed to be going right from then on, nopony bothered her on the way home, which was a blessing in itself, usually she was bullied both before school and after.  She didn't have any parents to come pick her up, or drop her off, they had left a long time ago, she was told they went away but weren't able to come back, the house was left to her, it was quaint, sitting just on the edge of Ponyville, away from all the sounds of the town.  The cottage resided far back in the trees, not many ponies could see it from far away, only when you look through the trees at a certain angle would you see the Doo's dwellings.

She unloaded her soaked things on one of the shelves and stepped onto a rug and wiped her hoofs, the rain had stopped on the way home so she wasn't all too wet, but her things still were drenched from that morning.  She walked excitedly into the kitchen and turned on the oven, it was like clockwork for her, grabbing the ingredients for her favorite after school snack, muffins.  Her parents had gotten her addicted to the sweet treats since the time she could even speak, the warm delicacies had always comforted the mare on even the darkest days.

She had chosen to make chocolate chip muffins, one of her favorites, if she had one that is.  She happily plopped down on the couch that was in the main room and munched on the tasty snack, she thought about what the stallion was going to be like, they really never got new students here in Ponyville, most of the ponies move to places such as Manehatten and Fillydelphia, so when new ponies came to class it was a very exciting thing.

I hope he's nice... what if he isn't?  She pondered how she was going to introduce herself to the stallion, she didn't want him to not like her, her thoughts then tracked over to her eyes.

Is that going to freak him out?  Quickly her face went from happiness to crestfallen, usually her eyes would scare new ponies away, or they would have already joined with the crowds that make fun of her.  She sighed as she finished off the third of the six muffins that she made, she had lost frustration with new ponies making fun of her eyes, or questioning them, before she would get fired up at the offending ponies, but when they came in groups she couldn't do anything about it.  Her wings had yet to fully develop so she just had to deal with the ponies on the ground, she quickly realized that the less attention that she brought on herself the better off she would be, so she would just sit in the back of the class, she wasn't called on very often, and when she kept her head low she wasn't made fun of, as much anyway.

The light outside quickly changed to darkness, the light of the moon casting the main room in a silver light, Ditzy got up from where she was sitting and found one of the lanterns, she lit the device and it immediately filled the room with an amber light.  She happily went upstairs and grabbed her journal and pillow, she didn't really have to worry about where to sleep considering her parents were gone, she sat by the lantern light and wrote in that small journal until she could feel her eyelids getting heavy.  She settled in with her pillow and blew out the lantern, the light of the moon then took back over as the mare slowly descended into her own world, one where she didn't have to worry about bullies, one where she had friends.

On the table nearby the journal was now in the light of the moon, the dark text easily visible on the white paper.  Dear diary, today I learned that there is going to be a new student, I think it will be nice to get to know him, perhaps we could become the best of friends, I could show him how to make muffins and...